


2009+ Drabbles

by Whisper132



Series: PoT Drabble Collections [4]
Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-01-23
Updated: 2009-01-23
Packaged: 2018-05-07 14:27:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 11,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5459759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whisper132/pseuds/Whisper132
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>PoT drabbles from 2009 and beyond</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. How You Really Feel (Maruihara)

Kirihara hated Jackal.  
  
It wasn't anything personal, really, it was just that Jackal-senpai had everything Kirihara wanted: Marui's phone number, Marui's address, the ability to smack Marui on the ass without anyone questioning him. Kirihara got yelled at and told to get his ass back to his own court if he so much as tried to talk to Marui during practice. That wasn't Jackal's fault, though. That was Sanada-fukubuchou, who sucked and whom Kirihara also hated. A lot.  
  
Akaya thought himself a good match for Marui-senpai. They were both about the same height, and they both were awesome at tennis. Marui-senpai also liked chocolate parfait and, while Kirihara wasn't very big on sweet things, he did like chocolate parfaits. Also, both he and Marui-senpai were good looking, and a night with Photoshop informed Kirihara that he and Marui-senpai would look even  _better_  together.   
  
"Hey Akaya, we're going out to eat. Wanna come?" Marui waved as he jogged toward Kirihara. "Jackal's gonna pay."  
  
While Kirihara got to hang out with Marui a lot, it was always when Jackal was there. Granted, Jackal was always the one paying for their adventures, but Kirihara had an allowance he'd been saving to spend on Marui-senpai since elementary school. They didn't need Jackal's money. They didn't need Jackal at all.  
  
"Hey senpai, let's ditch that guy and go somewhere even better," Kirihara whispered. "I'll pay."  
  
Marui waved Kirihara's invitation off. "What's better than the afternoon special at Buffet King? Hurry up and get your stuff or we won't get there for the special price. Jackal's waiting."  
  
Akaya clenched his fists and took a deep breath. "Senpai, I'm not going."  
  
Marui paused. "Huh? Why? It's free."  
  
"It's because I want to—" Kirihara trailed off as Jackal came running up.  
  
"Hey guys, my mom called and she wants me to come home. The washer broke and I have to take stuff to the laundromat. Some other time, okay?" Jackal ran away before either Kirihara or Marui could protest.  
  
"Suck." Marui plopped down onto the ground. "I was really in the mood for it, too. Stupid Jackal."  
  
Kirihara cleared his throat. "Uh, I can pay, senpai. We can still go."  
  
"I thought you didn't wanna go. Weren't you about to blow me off too?" Marui flicked a pebble with his finger. "Man, I need to make some rich friends. Maybe I'll call that Hyoutei kid who's always hanging around here. I've got his number somewhere…"  
  
"Senpai, I'll pay." Kirihara grabbed Marui's hand. "Let's go." Akaya was pleased that Bunta allowed himself to be easily lead away. "And you don't need to hang out with Jackal-senpai anymore. I can buy you stuff." Failing that, Kirihara could quietly borrow the money from Jackal. "Just hang out with me."  
  
Marui smiled. "Cool, but we're not going to make it for the lunch special now, so it's going to be double the price."  
  
It was all stupid Jackal's fault that they missed the cheap buffet. The next time Kirihara saw his senpai, he'd be sure to charge for the difference in price. If Jackal didn't pay up, Kirihara would tell Sanada-fukubuchou that Jackal was trying to give him advice on picking up women. Sanada would tell Yukimura and then Yukimura would order infinite laps for Jackal for corrupting underclassmen.  
  
"Hey, you just gonna stand there or are we going to eat? I'll die of starvation soon."   
  
Kirihara shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Coming!" Grinning, he jogged up to meet his date – because this was a date, dammit – and begin his slow walk toward poverty.


	2. Dating Disasters (OsaGin, KenZai)

He wasn't going to fuck it up. Again. He wasn't going to mention age or homework or Gin's father, who was bound to find out about this and come at Osamu with a gun or, more likely, a pair of concrete boots.  
  
"Hey Osamu, what're you doing here? Isn't this place a bit expensive for you?" Kenya clapped Osamu on the shoulder. "Woah, you're even wearing a tie."  
  
"Senpai, leave him alone. He's probably on a date." Zaizen tugged Kenya away. "Our table's this way."  
  
Kenya pulled himself free and sat down across from Osamu. "So, how long did you save up for this? You're not ordering something cheap, are you? Want me to spot you some cash?" Kenya made for his wallet but Osamu waved him off.  
  
"Nah, I got it. I'm a responsible adult, you know." The truth was that Osamu had to cut his smoking habit by half and do without beer for a month to afford eating at the snooty restaurant, but if he didn't do something nice for Gin, the kid would start hanging out with the wrong crowd.  
  
"Senpai, I'm hungry. If you're not coming, then I'm going to Happy Burger. Alone." Zaizen looked pissy, as usual. Osamu was glad that Gin wasn't pissy. Gin was patient and understanding and…  
  
Osamu's phone buzzed in his pocket.  
  
 _Sensei, I saw you were busy. I'm going to Happy Burger. – Gin_  
  
Crap. Gin only called him sensei in texts when he was pissed. There went all of Osamu's plans, his glorious, glorious plans.  
  
"You're grinning like a pervert, old man." Kenya yanked at Osamu's cheek. "What'd he text you? Let me see." While Kenya tried to wrestle away Osamu's phone, Zaizen left. When Kenya finally saw the message, he winced. "Ouch. You're in the doghouse now."  
  
"Really? So where's your date, huh, kid?"   
  
Kenya's grin faded. "Uh…mind if I sit down?"  
  
Shortly thereafter, Zaizen sent a text to Kenya's phone. He and Gin were having a good time at Happy Burger and Kenya was not to speak to Zaizen for a week. From the attached photo, Osamu assumed he'd be spending another month without smokes and liquor. Gin said he'd always wanted to go to Korea and there were some travel specials on. Hopefully nobody on the team would be in Korea.  
  
Hopefully.


	3. Texting Subtext (TezuFuji)

Fuji hated days off of school that weren't part of a weekend. If the weekend were longer, he could plan a holiday with friends or go visit Yuuta, but a day off in the middle of the week meant he was at home with nothing to do while his friends went shopping with their families or caught up on homework. That left Fuji alone at home with his cacti, typing useless emails on his phone that wouldn't be returned for hours.  
  
_Hey Tezuka, we got an advertisement for a new restaurant today. We should go sometime. Not today, since you're busy, but sometime._  
  
This was his third message to Tezuka in the last half hour. He really needed to find something productive to do.   
  
_Inui, how is your research going? Discover anything new today?_  
  
At least Inui usually replied to his messages promptly, even if the replies were as entertaining as a textbook.  
  
_Fuji, I am taking the day away from research to engage in a social activity with Kaidou's family. We are having fun._  Attached was a photo of Inui, Kaidou, and Kaidou's little brother, the latter being pulled into the photo by Kaidou against his will.  
  
Fuji sent a smiley emoticon as reply.  
  
_Hey Tezuka, did you know Inui and Kaidou are on a date and took Kaidou's brother with them? Isn't that cute?_  He forwarded the picture with the email.   
  
Fuji was hungry, but not hungry enough to do anything about it, so he sat in the living room and watched a children's program on mute until his phone went off.  
  
"Fuji," Tezuka said.  
  
"Tezuka. I didn't expect you to call." Fuji turned the television off.  
  
"I don't like typing emails. You know that." There was a long stretch of silence. "Come over. Mom says it's okay."  
  
"You should come over here. I was just about to go rent a movie." He began to scramble toward his bedroom to look for his rental card.  
  
"Is your sister home?"  
  
"Just me."  
  
"I see." There was a scraping sound and muffled talking. Tezuka always covered the phone when he talked to his parents. "Mom says I can come. She'll drop me off in half an hour. I'll bring food."  
  
"Sounds good."   
  
"Bye."  
  
"Bye." Turning off the phone, Fuji started to race around the house, cleaning up. He stopped when his email alert went off.  
  
_Fuji, if you have not already done so, please contact Tezuka. I believe his grandfather is planning a slideshow of his fishing trip and is inviting his old work friends over. Tezuka would be very grateful for a distraction. Good luck._  Inui attached another photo, this time of Kaidou and his brother asleep in the grass.  
  
Fuji planned to send his reply a little later. It would take a while to get Tezuka into the proper pose.


	4. Small Things to Cherish (OsaGin)

The day had sucked more than the average day and Osamu wasn't in the mood.

"So then he got upset and told me we should see other people. What the hell does that mean anyway? Does it mean he's going to go date some easy chick from the swim team? Does he already have someone on the side? What is the idiot thinking?"

Not only had Osamu had to fill in for a teacher that called in sick, but Gin dragged a ranting Kenya to his bench during practice and now Osamu was stuck listening to Kenya give every little detail of his and Shiraishi's breakup which , by the sound of it, was really just Shiraishi trying to see how freaked out Kenya would be if they broke up. The two would probably be back together again in a day or two because everyone thought Shiraishi had an STD and nobody wanted to deal with Kenya's bitching.

"All we ever talk about is tennis anyway. He can just have his damn Bible tennis and see where it gets him. I can get anyone I want. I don't need that asshole to jer-" Kenya stopped and looked at Osamu. "Anyway, I don't need him."

The really shitty part was that Kenya was getting some and Osamu wasn't. If Kenya wanted to, he could march out into the center of the tennis court, demand to be serviced, and at least one skittery freshman would gladly come forward. Osamu couldn't even go to a club with the guys for some girl-watching without feeling such overwhelming guilt that he spent most of the time with his eyes on his drink and his hands folded neatly on the table. And then, after he'd behaved himself all night, he would get a text from Gin the next day saying that Gin had had a boring night and wondered what Osamu had been up to. It happened every time without fail and creeped him the hell out.

"Look," Osamu said before Kenya could rally himself for another round of bitchery, "if you're gonna go get some, then go get some. If you're just gonna whine, then you can run laps or something. Your man's just pulling your chain anyway." Osamu wasn't sure when he'd started referring to people as "so-and-so's man," but Gin and Chitose used the term all the time and it must have rubbed off. It was better than "shower masturbation buddy" or any of the other lame phrases he heard going around the campus, mostly directed toward members of his team.

"You're on his side, aren't you?" Kenya's fist clenched and his arm moved back.

"Something wrong?" Gin asked, holding Kenya's fist in one of his massive hands. "Shiraishi said he wanted to talk to you."

Lately a lot of people thought it was cool to try to bitch slap Osamu around in order to take out their frustrations. He wasn't sure why, but it had happened three times last week. Fortunately, Gin had been there to stop them every time. Osamu suspected that the upcoming nationals tournament was wearing on everyone's nerves and, if he was honest, he would admit that he wasn't the strongest looking guy around and maybe sleeping during practice presented him as an easy target. 

"He better be apologizing," Kenya mumbled, running off once Gin released him.

"You should be more careful," Gin said, watching Kenya leave. "When you show people that kind of face they want to pick on you."

"Whatever. Go practice or something. I've got sleep to catch up on." He paused a moment before adding, "And I don't make any faces. Stop bringing crazy people over to talk to me. We have a school counselor for that."

"Sorry. I won't do it again. Have a good nap." 

Osamu waited, but Gin didn't leave. "What?"

Gin smiled. "Nothing."

Nothing his ass. If they were alone, this would be where Gin would say how cute Osamu's sleeping face was or something equally as dumb. Osamu was glad they were in public. "Go practice," he said.

"I was practicing with Shiraishi and he's occupied."

"Then use the ball machine."

"Zaizen's on it."

"Fine, then. Just stand there." Osamu grabbed his hat and covered his face. It wouldn't do for everyone to see that, despite his kind of shitty day, he was trying very hard not to smile.


	5. In the Open (Rikkai)

Jackal knew he was different from his friends and that they would still accept him if they knew. Still, he felt awkward talking about it and didn't really want to bring up the subject. It didn't really matter as far as his tennis was concerned; he could still play a good game of doubles, so there was no need to advertise it to the team.  
  
"Something wrong?" Marui's arm fell on Jackal's shoulder.  
  
"Nothing really," Jackal said, shrugging off the arm. Marui's hand felt hot, even through Jackal's jersey. "Just thinking."  
  
"About what?" Marui started to undress as soon as they hit the locker-room.   
  
Should he look? Would it be weird if he looked away suddenly? For some reason, even though he'd been playing tennis with Marui for so long, things were different now that he had these…feelings.  
  
"Something's totally wrong with you. What's up?" Marui thwacked Jackal in the head with his shirt. "Your game was off today, too.  
  
He could tell Marui. He trusted Marui. "I…" He took a deep breath. "I like girls." Having said it, he felt a thousand times better. It didn't even matter that Marui had fallen to the ground in laughter.


	6. Askew (OsaGin)

To say that he and Osamu were having a fight would be an understatement. Fights usually meant Osamu brought out the guest futon and made Gin sleep in the kitchen. For the last three nights, Gin spent the night at his family's home because Osamu changed the locks and threatened to call the police if he so much as saw Gin near his apartment.  
  
"Son." Ishida-san stepped into the main room holding sake and cups. "What'd you do?" Though he'd thought his son's fascination with his teacher would fade, Ishida-san had come to realize that his son, now a well-standing man in their organization, was determined to stick to Watanabe for life.   
  
Gin accepted a cup and poured for his father. "I told him we should get a house." Gin was tired of Osamu's cramped apartment. Osamu originally promised they'd get their own place as soon as Gin graduated from college, but the day had come and gone two years ago.   
  
"There are some really nice properties available right now," Ishida-san said. He poured for his son and took a sip.   
  
"The apartment isn't safe. It would be child's play to break into it." What Gin didn't tell Osamu was that there was a regular patrol outside the apartment to make sure no overly ambitious thieves tried to break in.   
  
"You have a place in mind?"   
  
Gin had had plenty of time to house shop over the years, and one immediately came to mind. "The two story house down in section 14b would be nice. It's close enough to the expressway that he can get to school but far enough that we won't be bothered."  
  
Ishida-san took a long sip. "Done." He held his cup out for a refill. "Sometimes you have to take the initiative. A man won't leave his territory unless he's forced to."  
  
Gin wasn't sure he should be refilling the cup, but his father couldn't possibly be drunk yet. "Forced?" he asked.  
  
"Consider it your birthday present." Ishida-san raised his cup in salute before downing the contents. "I'm heading to bed. Make sure you fold the futon properly in the morning. Don't want your mother getting upset."  
  
Nodding numbly, Gin capped the sake bottle and got up to put it away. He was flattered by his father's willingness to help him, but he was unsure he'd appreciate the means. Ishida-san had never been known for his subtlety.  
  
  
*****  
  
"You burned my apartment down," Osamu said, his eyes unfocused as he sat in the passenger seat of Gin's car.   
  
"I didn't do it," Gin said. "We'll replace your things this weekend." In truth, a unit of Gin's father's men cleaned out the apartment and moved Osamu's belongings to their new house. Gin wondered if Osamu would be happy to find his collection of sparkly underwear (gifts from Chitose) intact when he arrived or if he would rather they been lost in the fire. Gin was happy they were safe.  
  
"Are you telling me that you had absolutely nothing to do with it? Nothing at all?"  
  
Gin stayed silent because he didn't lie, especially not to Osamu.  
  
"I knew it. You burned my damn house down."  
  
"It wasn't a house. It was an apartment." Gin cringed as soon as he'd said it. "It's done now. We can't dwell on it."  
  
"You talked to your old man again, didn't you?" Osamu took off his hat and hit Gin with it. "I didn't need him to get me a fancy job at a university, and I sure as hell don't need him wrecking my home."  
  
Gin pulled to the side of the road. "He just wanted to help. If you don't like the new place, I'll get the apartments rebuilt and you can have your old apartment back."  
  
Osamu hit him with the hat again. "You completely missed the point." He turned his back to Gin as much as he could while restrained by a seatbelt. "Just drive."  
  
"If you don't like it…"  
  
"Shut the hell up and drive. I want a nap." Osamu looked over his shoulder. "And a dog."  
  
Gin smiled but didn't say anything. The puppy would be waiting for them at the gate.


	7. Kansai Summertime (Chiquita)

Tachibana begged and pleaded with his family to get the money for a two week vacation with Chitose. The plan was to bum around Kyoto and take in the sights before doing a quick run of sightseeing in Osaka. On the night before they were to leave for Kyoto, Chitose got food poisoning from the curry at Joyfull and they had to cancel their plans. Luckily, the inn they were going to stay at had plenty of people willing to take the room and their cancelation fee was minimal. Chitose was sick for three days and, when they tried to get another hotel, all of the places in their price range were booked solid.  
  
Instead of walking the streets of Kyoto, Tachibana began to quickly formulate an Osaka-only vacation full of day trips.  
  
"I don't want to go to Spa World," Chitose sighed from where he'd collapsed in front of the fan. "Too many tourists at this time of year."  
  
" _I'm_  a tourist," Kippei grumbled, "and I want to go to Spa World."  
  
"We'll go in the winter. It's better in winter." Chitose rolled his head and smiled at Tachibana. "How about we go to Osaka Castle? It's cultural and stuff."  
  
Figuring the castle was a good filler, Tachibana nodded in agreement. "I'll check my magazines and see what else is in the area."  
  
"You don't need a magazine," Chitose said, slowly slugging up from his pile of heat exhaustion. "You've got me."  
  
Tachibana believed in Chitose's sense of direction about as much as he believed that Seigaku's Golden Pair was celibate. "Alright, so what's there to see?"  
  
Chitose scratched his head. "There's a pretty nice mall with a Starbucks," he said. "Oh, and at this one park there's usually a lot of goth-loli kids."  
  
Tachibana nodded his assent because he didn't have the spirit to speak. At least, he thought, they were still on for the aquarium on Saturday.


	8. Oh Baby Oh Baby (Maruihara)

If Kirihara stopped to think about it, he and Marui-senpai were in a pretty sexy position. Kirihara was standing behind his senpai, pressed nice and close, and Marui was leaning back with all his weight. The only unsexy part was that Marui-senpai was laughing his ass off and Kirihara was covering Marui's mouth with both hands so Sanada didn't come out of the shower and destroy them both.  
  
Neither of them were sure what Sanada was singing – all they could make out were a bunch of Oh Baby's and some suggestive grunting – but neither of them really wanted to know. Fukubuchou was a freak.  
  
"He sounds like a drowning cat," Marui whispered after peeling Kirihara's hands off his lips.  
  
"Huh?" Kirihara's listening skills went down considerably when Marui-senpai's lips were next to his neck.   
  
"Maybe we should go in there and-"  
  
Marui's comment was cut off by applause and Yukimura's, "That's wonderful, Sanada."  
  
Kirihara grabbed his bag and he and Marui ran out of the shower room. Quickly.


	9. The End is Nigh (AtoJi)

Atobe's life was over. Not only was he going to be the laughing stock of the Kanto region, but he was now going to be mercilessly teased for life.  
  
Of all the people to see, why did it have to be  _him_?  
  
"Relax," Jirou yawned, snuggling himself against Atobe's arm while they were driven back to Atobe's house for some study time . "It's no big deal."  
  
No big deal? Atobe failed to see how being discovered in the bushes with Jirou pressing him into the dirt and kissing his neck was not a big deal. He also failed to see how being discovered in said position by Mukahi Gakuto was not a big deal.  
  
Over. Everything was over.  
  
"It's not like he didn't know anyway," Jirou continued, burrowing his face between Atobe's shoulder and the seat. The driver probably assumed Jirou was falling asleep again. The teeth scraping along the back of Atobe's shoulder told a different story.  
  
"He  _knew_!?" Atobe threw Jirou off him. "You told him!  _Him!_ " Atobe scooted as far away as his seatbelt would allow. "I can never show my face at school again." And it would be a shame for Hyoutei to lose such a marvelous face as his. Surely the application rates would plummet without him there.   
  
Jirou's eyes narrowed and he frowned. "I've known him longer than I've known you. Of course I told him." Jirou pulled Atobe back toward him. "Now stop whining. I wanna nap."  
  
Atobe didn't complain any further. If this was the last day of his life, there were worse ways to spend it.


	10. Hidden Talent (Sanayuki)

Yukimura didn't want to go, but his mother was insistent. He would rather battle a raging water buffalo than tell his mother no.  
  
"Please fill this out," the lady at the registration counter said, handing him and his mother a clipboard.  
  
"Remember your routine," his mother said, "and smile."  
  
Seiichi gave his best smile, or rather what he had been told was his best smile. Sanada always said Yukimura's best smiles came after he'd won a tennis match, though.  
  
"Genichirou, take off that ridiculous hat."   
  
Yukimura's ears perked up at the familiar sound of Sanada's mother. Immediately, Yukimura sought cover behind a vending machine.  
  
"Seiichi, stop skulking around. It's unattractive."  
  
"Genichirou, I told you to take off that hat. You're not a burglar."  
  
Slowly, and with a straight-postured dignity, Yukimura walked back into view. He met Sanada's eyes. "Sanada," he said, tilting his head in greeting.  
  
"Yukimura," Sanada replied.  
  
While their mothers chatted about what they'd do if their sons made it through auditions and into the famous Johnny's corporation, Sanada and Yukimura tried very hard to pretend they were in a locker room and not about to make fools of themselves.  
  
"Kirihara's getting sloppy on the court," Yukimura said while answering the last question on the questionnaire. "We need to reign him in more."  
  
Sanada nodded while frowning at his form. "What should I put for positive traits?" he asked.  
  
Yukimura thought for a moment. "Follows commands, imposing presence, powerful kill shots, nice abs."  
  
"Nice abs?" Sanada looked down. "They're okay."  
  
"Say accomplished at calligraphy instead," Yukimura said when he realized he wasn't particularly comfortable with other people looking at Sanada's abs. "And put your hat back on."  
  
"My mom said-"  
  
"Hat back on."  
  
Sanada obeyed and Yukimura took a moment to add "natural leader" and "brings out the hidden potential in others" to his list of merits.


	11. Consequences (Silver Pair)

Shishido felt stupid. He was used to getting into scrapes, but this kind of thing was altogether new to him.  
  
"Don't worry about it, Shishido-san. Everything'll be fine." Choutarou smiled and sipped a Calpis that Shishido bought him out of guilt.  
  
"We can't practice for a whole week," Shishido sighed. "It's all my fault." He hunched his back and buried his face in his hands, unable to meet the gaze of his doubles partner.  
  
"It wasn't your fault. That guy was saying unnecessary things."   
  
Shishido began to massage his forehead. He felt a headache coming on. "Choutarou," he said.  
  
"Yes, Shishido-san?" Ohtori slurped the last of his soda out of the bottle.  
  
"Did you really have to hit him? Couldn't you just reason it out or something?" It sounded stupid coming from the fisticuffs champion of Hyoutei, but Shishido had a point to make. Kind of.  
  
Ohtori pondered the question while he stripped the plastic label off the Calpis bottle. "Yes," was his answer.  
  
"I would've let it go," Shishido lied. In truth, Shishido would have cornered the asshole later and introduced his face to the pavement.  
  
Getting up to throw his bottle into the recycle bin, Ohtori smiled. "Don't lie, Shishido-san." When he sat down, Ohtori did so as close to Shishido as possible without sitting in the other boy's lap. "He insulted me, too."  
  
Ohtori had never been upset at someone calling him Shishido's wife before, so Shishido figured it was no big deal. "Gakuto calls you the same thing every day at practice."  
  
"It's not the same," Ohtori said. "Gakuto says it respectfully. That guy-" He paused and shook out his shoulders, a habit he had when he was nervous or trying not to get upset. "He said I was a bad wife and you should 'find your fun elsewhere.' He deserved to be hit, Shishido-san."  
  
"Okay, fine. He deserved it." Arguing with Choutarou wouldn't change that they couldn't play for a week – a lenient decision on the part of the discipline committee – and that Oshitari kept mocking Shishido for being rescued by an underclassman. "Next time, just let me hit him, okay?"  
  
Ohtori smiled. "Okay."  
  
Shishido didn't believe Ohtori one bit, but let it go.


	12. Right Way, Wrong Way (Rikkai, Yamabuki)

"Relax," Sengoku said, swatting at Sanada with a wet towel. "This isn't rocket science."  
  
"If you do it wrong we'll just have to do it again," Sanada said, frowning at the streaks on the car window. He only invited Sengoku to help him because he'd made a mess of Sengoku's karaoke night last week and wanted to apologize with a fun guy-bonding activity. Had he known Sengoku would put streaks on the windows of Sanada's father's car, he would've suggested something else.  
  
"The windows are fine. It's just gonna rain tomorrow anyway."  
  
This kind of attitude was why Yamabuki lost matches – that and they had no talent except Sengoku and that kid with the bad hair. "If we're not going to do it properly, we shouldn't do it at all."  
  
"I hear that," Sengoku said, tossing his washing rag to the ground. "Let's ditch this and get some ramen."  
  
While Sanada violently twisted the water out of his scrub cloth, Sengoku began to snicker.  
  
"Gotcha," Sengoku laughed. "How about I wash and you dry?"  
  
Breathing deeply, Sanada released his death grip on the towel. "That'll work." His stomach growled embarrassingly loud.  
  
"And then ramen."  
  
Sanada nodded. "Yes."  
  
Sengoku rubbed his hands together. "If you're with me, the girls will come running for us. Awesome."  
  
Even though it was supposed to be Sanada's apology activity, he thwapped Sengoku in the face with a wet towel. "Start washing," he grumbled through a grin. The summer was shaping up nicely.


	13. Parfait Gallery (KenZai, Koharu/Yuuji)

"He's never gonna get any if he keeps this up," Koharu whispered, pointing to the table Kenya and Zaizen were occupying. He and Yuuji stumbled upon the romantically retarded couple while on an outing to sate Yuuji's craving for a strawberry parfait.  
  
"They aren't even sharing fries," Yuuji whispered back. "Separate dishes is a total mood killer."  
  
"He should've listened to our advice," Koharu sighed. He scooted toward his doubles partner and laid his head on Yuuji's shoulder. "Not everybody can be perfect, though."  
  
"A perfect pain in my ass," Yuuji grumbled.  
  
"Oooh, an invitation!"  
  
"Shut up, you bastard! Don't think I don't know about what you did in the locker room yesterday!"   
  
Koharu dodged away from Yuuji's attempt to throttle him .  
  
"Hey, idiots."  
  
They looked up to see Kenya glaring at them.   
  
"Hiiiiii sweetiepants," Koharu sang before blowing a kiss.  
  
"Let's go, senpai. I told you they'd be here." Zaizen grabbed Kenya by the arm and hauled him away. "Don't follow us," he said over his shoulder.  
  
"I still want a strawberry parfait," Yuuji said, kicking Koharu in the behind…with love.


	14. Very Very Danger (Generic)

They were both refusing to admit that they were lost, which was probably their first problem. No, wait, the first problem was that they were lost. Their  _second_  problem was that they were refusing to admit it.  
  
"Let's try that ramen shop," Inoue said, pulling the car into the roadside parking area. "It looks good."  
  
"Yes," Shiba agreed. It was the first sign of food they'd seen in the last half hour. Why the hell couldn't Seigaku train at the community center like other teams? Why did they have to go to some backwoods mountain retreat? It was stupid.  
  
"I'm excited to see their growth," Inoue-san said.  
  
"Me, too," Shiba agreed, though she doubted that the growth she was referring to was the same as the growth Inoue-san was referring to. Of course, given some of the notes Inoue-san took, maybe they were on the same train after all. Maybe, if they ever got where they were going, she'd test him and find out.  
  
"I think, if we keep on this road, we'll find the turn off for the camp."  
  
Shiba took out her camera and photographed the front of the ramen shop. If they really ran into trouble, they could use it as reference later on to ask locals for help…assuming the locals didn't skin them alive. Anything was possible in the countryside.


	15. First Chances Come Twice (Hyoutei)

His tie was crooked and his pants were wrinkled. What kind of first impression was that going to make?   
  
"Ohtori."  
  
He couldn't go in there looking like a slob. Everyone would laugh at him, and if everyone laughed at him he'd look completely lame. Above all else, he had to  _not. look. lame._  
  
"Ohtori."  
  
"What?" Choutarou grumbled, whipping around from his contemplation of his reflection to face Hiyoshi, who was being less than helpful in getting Choutarou ready for such a big day.  
  
"What's the big deal? It's just the entrance ceremony."   
  
"But Shishido-san will be there with his new friends and-"  
  
"The school's on the same property as the junior high. They've already seen you." Hiyoshi rolled his eyes and sat on the corner of Ohtori's bed. "I woke up early for this. I'll get my revenge."   
  
Ohtori tuned out Hiyoshi's mumbling. "It's different," he said, knowing he was talking to himself. "The uniform is different and…there's just a different feel." He adjusted his tie for the tenth time. "It's like starting over again."  
  
"Zzzzzz."  
  
After spraying wrinkle remover on his pants, Ohtori exited the room, leaving Hiyoshi asleep on the bed. If he didn't care how important the day was to his best friend then he could just sleep through it.  
  
Gekokujou.


	16. Betcha (Hyoutei)

"Bet you wouldn't," Gakuto laughed. "Bet you a week of after school snacks that you wouldn't."  
  
"Would too," Jirou said from under a mountain of pillows. The last weekend before school started was traditionally Sleepover Weekend, and even though they were going to be junior high students, they saw no reason to discontinue the tradition.  
  
"This is stupid," Shishido said. "I'm gonna pretend I don't know you guys."  
  
"Sure you will." Gakuto leaped forward and tugged at Shishido's hair. "And we'll tell everyone who asks that you're a giiiiirl."  
  
"Leave the hair out of this."  
  
"Make me, girl."  
  
While Shishido and Gakuto tried to throttle one another, Jirou snuggled down into his pillows. Wearing his pajama shorts to tennis club wasn't a big deal, well worth the free snacks.  
  
"Jirou! Help! He's gonna kill me!" On the far corner of their futon fort, Shishido was straddling Gakuto and had his hands wrapped around the other boy's neck. Ryo wouldn't really kill Gakuto, just mangle him up a bit. Still…  
  
Thwap!  
  
Over the years, Jirou had become an expert in the art of pillow hurtling. His shot hit its mark and Shishido fell down, dazed. After that, the night devolved into Shishido's lame attempts at retribution and Gakuto's commentary on the match.  
  
In the end, Jirou won – as usual.


	17. Loving Cowardice (OsaGin)

Osamu stared at his reflection in the mirror. He wasn't a fan of shaving, but he felt a sudden need for it. It was like there were bugs crawling all over his face every time he saw his reflection.  
  
"There's something wrong with me," he told himself as he lathered up. He stared at his soapy neck. "Something really, really wrong."  
  
He pulled the blade along his skin, clipping off his carefully cultivated stubble. The scraping of the blade resonated in the pit of his stomach, sloughing off things deeper than a 100 yen blade should.   
  
"Shit." He put his blade down when his neck was shorn and rinsed. His neck was red, not from the blade, but from…things he didn't want to think about. "This's gotta stop," he said to his reflection. The eyes staring back at him were laughing because they knew, despite his words, that he was weak.  
  
A knock sounded on the bathroom door.  
  
"Osamu, you still in there? Dinner's almost done."  
  
The rough patches inside of him twisted at the sound of Gin's voice. "Yeah, be right out," he said. He grabbed the soap to finish up his shave, trying not to look at the small, red splotch that blared bright as a police searchlight.  
  
"Gotta stop," he muttered to himself, the motion causing him to knick the bottom of his jaw. He ignored it and started on the other side of his face. "Gotta stop," he repeated.  
  
Another knock on the door.  
  
"You okay?"  
  
Osamu splashed water on his face to clear up the soap. "Yeah."   
  
He looked at himself in the mirror. "No."  
  
"What?" The handle jiggled but the door was locked. Gin tried again. "Osamu, let me in."  
  
Osamu ran a hand over his newly shaved face. It felt weird, as if he were wearing a costume instead of his own skin. "Gimme a sec," he said. He gave the door one quick glance before going back to staring at himself and that bright red spot.   
  
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a big deal. They didn't go very far and, in truth, it hadn't been his idea. The kid was huge; there was no stopping him when he got certain thoughts into his head.  
  
What a nice, convenient excuse.  
  
"Osamu, open the door." The door shook violently and Osamu thought it might snap off the hinges.  
  
"Hey Gin…" His stomach was twisted in knots and he hated it. He was always looking out over his shoulder and he hated it. He just…hated it.   
  
Steeling himself, Osamu opened the door.   
  
"What is it?" Gin asked, putting a warm hand to Osamu's already scalding hot cheek.  
  
Osamu inhaled the scent of chopped onion and carrots from Gin's hand. "Nothing. Just wondering if dinner's ready."


	18. Careful Handling (AtoJi)

After his big European vacation Keigo was getting squishy around the stomach, so Jirou decided that chocolates were out this year. Still, it was important to appease Keigo's avarice.  
  
"What is this?"  
  
Jirou smiled and scooted closer on Atobe's couch. "They're yogurt covered raisins."  
  
Atobe sneered at the gift, much as Jirou expected he would. "How are raisins an adequate expression of your admiration?"  
  
Jirou poked at the spot where Atobe's stomach pooched slightly over his uniform pants. "Shishido says you're going to be one of those executives who breaks his desk chairs every month if you keep eating chocolates."  
  
"Shishido can jump out of my jet without a parachute." Atobe scooted away from Jirou's poking. "If you're going to listen to idiots, then you might as well…" Atobe trailed off. He turned his head away and his face began to twitch, as it often did when he wanted to backtrack and apologize but couldn't for reasons of pride.  
  
"I forgive you," Jirou said, sparing Atobe the trouble. It was enough – for the moment – that the other boy recognized that he was being a jerk and was repenting. Grinning, Jirou scooted closer, forcing Atobe against the arm of the couch. He poked Atobe's stomach again. "Now let's go play tennis."


	19. Feats of Concentration (OsaGin)

Gin really liked the curve of Osamu's lower back. He knew, from many nights observation of Osamu in his pajamas, that the older man's back was well toned and that he had just enough ass to keep his slightly too large sweatpants in place while scrambling around the apartment looking for his lighter.  
  
"Gin," Chitose whispered, "you're staring."   
  
He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. "I'm not staring at anything. I'm just meditating on my shot."  
  
"Uh huh." Chitose elbowed Gin in the side. "Everyone's gonna notice, you know."  
  
"There's nothing to notice."  
  
"Because you were meditating."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"On your shot?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Chitose chuckled. "I'll try that one with Kippei next time."  
  
Gin chose to ignore Chitose's comment; Osamu was coming near him.  
  
"Hey," Osamu said. "Koharu said you were staring at my ass."  
  
"I wasn’t," Gin said truthfully.  
  
"He was meditating on his shot," Chitose piped in, snickering.   
  
"Whatever," Osamu said. "It's your turn." He handed Gin a putter. "Don't take it so seriously. It's just minigolf." Tugging down his hat, Osamu moved to a shaded bench, kicking Zaizen and Kenya off it so he could lay down.  
  
"Think you'll get a hole in one?" Chitose asked, wiggling his eyebrows.  
  
Gin looked from the bench to the putter in his hand. "Not today."


	20. Switchblade Savior (OsaGin)

Dammit. Osamu pulled at his tie. The chick his mother was making him meet was cute and she looked like she would cry if he told her the truth. It was a new level of suck.  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Watanabe-san," she said, bowing. Osamu got a nice look up the front of her kimono. If only she'd come along earlier, he could've really taken a piece of that.  
  
"Uh, nice to meet you too." He gave a stiff bow and started to look around.   
  
"You're a teacher?"  
  
"Yeah. Middle school." He scratched his head. "I don't get paid a whole lot, so you're probably better off –"  
  
"You must be very dedicated to your job. I think that's wonderful." She smiled and turned her head away as a blush covered her cheeks. This girl was  _good._  
  
"Uh, like I was saying, I don't really make the kind of money a lady like you would need to-"  
  
"Watanabe!"   
  
Osamu turned and swallowed his tongue. Three men in suits, one of them Gin's father, were approaching.  
  
"Who are they?" the girl asked, scooting her chair so she could hide behind Osamu. "What's going on?"  
  
Gin's father walked up and grabbed Osamu by the tie, lifting him out of his seat. "You owe me, Watanabe."  
  
A thousand bad dreams involving concrete boots and beefy men with chains flashed through Osamu's memory. "I…do?" he ventured.  
  
"I let you off easy last time you didn't have the loot, but this time my boys are going to take care of you." Ishida-san snapped his fingers.   
  
"Watanabe-san!" the girl cried, all the while scooting away from harm.  
  
From somewhere behind one of the thugs, Gin appeared. He grabbed Osamu by the waist and hoisted him over his shoulder. "Looks like today's a bad day," Osamu called to the girl as Gin carried him away. "Some other time, yeah?" Gin held tighter, cutting into Osamu's kidney. "You're gonna kill me, kid," Osamu whispered.   
  
Gin threw Osamu into the back seat of a waiting taxi. "Next time," Gin said after giving the driver directions to Osamu's apartment, "just tell your mother no."  
  
"But she-"  
  
Gin stared.  
  
"Right, got it."


	21. Ineptitude (Sanayuki)

Yukimura was very aware, and somewhat annoyed, that Sanada could do just about anything. He could patch torn pants, bedazzle hats with rhinestones for Seiichi's cousin's birthday, bake cookies,  _and_  play a killer game of tennis. Seiichi's only consolation was that Sanada's thumb was blacker than pitch.  
  
"How did it die?" Sanada grumbled, poking at dead coriander leaves. "I did everything on the list." He waved around a list of tips Yukimura wrote out to assist him in caring for the plant. Stabbing the pot with a trowel, Sanada stood. "Let's play tennis."  
  
"I'm in the middle of something." Yukimura gestured to the carrots he was trying to re-space. "I asked you over to help. Be useful." In truth, Seiichi didn't invite Sanada over to help so much as to have Sanada bring his pitiful plant so Seiichi could rub Sanada's failure in his face.   
  
Good team management required that your players knew their place at all times.   
  
"I'll go fix the grip on your racquet," Sanada grumbled, eyeing his pot one more time.   
  
"Hand me the watering can."  
  
For a moment it seemed as though Sanada would rebel. He glared at the watering can as if to make it combust.  
  
"Sanada. The watering can. Hustle."  
  
Finally, Sanada brought the can over. "What now?"  
  
Yukimura reached up and put his hands over Sanada's. "Pour it gently over the plant, like this, so the leaves don't get pushed into the dirt."  
  
Sanada nodded gravely. "Understood."  
  
Rubbing a thumb over one of Sanada's racquet-calloused fingers, Yukimura smiled. The carrots were probably doomed now, but Sanada would be sure to bring homemade snacks to compensate for the loss. Lacing their fingers together around the handle of the watering can, Yukimura led Sanada through the garden, bound for the garden shed that, now that Seiichi thought about it, could use a new coat of paint.


	22. Bad Example (Shitenhouji)

"So, ah, you guys just help the kid out a little, okay?" Osamu said as he left the locker room. "And don't give the kid too much crap or you're benched or something." He paused halfway out the door to add, "And don't let Koharu near him."  
  
"Shiraishi gets to do it," Kenya said, pointing. "He's team captain, so it's his job."  
  
"Chitose's our people person. He can do it." Shiraishi blew Chitose a kiss.   
  
Chitose reciprocated with the finger. "I don't know anything about netting girls. Someone else talk to him about it."  
  
"Gin-san can do it, right Gin-san?" Kenya elbowed Gin in the side. "The kid listens to you."  
  
Gin looked down at Kenya. "No," he said.  
  
The door to the locker room opened. "Hey senpai, what's taking you so long?" Zaizen entered, followed by Kin-chan. "The court's all cleaned up and all the others went home already."  
  
Kin-chan hopped up and down, using Zaizen's shoulders for a springboard. "Hikaru says we're going to yakiniku!"  
  
"Hikaru?" Kenya was the first to ask.  
  
"I got an email from your cousin, senpai. He said I should tell him about any problems you've got." Zaizen gave a look from Kenya to Shiraishi. "Says that you can get disease screenings for free at his dad's clinic if you need it."  
  
In the pin-drop silence that followed, Kin-chan grabbed Zaizen by the backside. "Yakiniku!" he demanded.  
  
Zaizen let himself be lead away. "Later, senpai."  
  
"Yuuji?" Chitose asked.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Where's Koharu?"


	23. The Taste of Hanabi (AtoShishi)

"You would enjoy the display more if you weren't stuffing your face full of cotton candy," Atobe said, eyeing the blue spun sugar with disdain.   
  
"You're just pissed because you get cavities and I don't." Shishido stuck out a blue tongue. "There's a lot more this year."  
  
Atobe wouldn't mention that he specifically requested the display be larger for the evening's festivities; it would give Shishido the impression that Atobe cared, which he didn't.   
  
"So romantic!" a girl squealed before she and her boyfriend started smooching on the blanket next to them. Repulsive.  
  
"Careful not to knock her up!" Shishido called, turning eyes away from the fireworks and toward the overly affectionate couple.  
  
"Can we go nowhere without a scene," Atobe hissed.  
  
"Nope." Shishido took in another mouthful of cotton candy then passed it to Atobe. "Have some."  
  
"I already told you-"  
  
"Whatever, you know you like it."  
  
Cringing, Atobe took a bite. One day he'd find words simple enough for Shishido's simple brain to comprehend. Today, he would content himself with an indirect kiss with a blue aftertaste.


	24. Making It (NiouMaru)

"So you, uh, made it on the regulars." Niou avoided looking at Marui.  
  
"Yeah." Marui concentrated on scrubbing out his locker. "Yukimura wants me to play doubles."  
  
"Me too."  
  
"But not with you."  
  
"No way. That'd be…gross."  
  
Marui scrubbed harder at a bit of grime in the far corner.   
  
"Look," they both said at the same time.  
  
"This is dumb," Marui grumbled, smacking Niou in the leg with his dirty scrub-rag. "Just because you suck as a boyfriend doesn't mean we can't play on the same team."  
  
" **I**  suck!? You drained my allowance and never put out!" Niou coughed when the other team members started staring. "Is what I said to her when I dumped her!" he added, puffing up his chest.  
  
"Smooth."  
  
"Don't make me shove that rag down your throat." Niou kicked Marui lightly.   
  
"Whatever. Your locker's above mine, so don't spill anything gross."  
  
"I'll be sure to spill things every day, sweetcakes."   
  
Marui blushed and went back to scrubbing. "Shut up."


	25. Nights Like This (NiouMaru)

"So I was thinking that they probably switched out to a lower quality cream for their sauce. I ordered the same thing last month and it was a lot better. The texture was too lumpy today. Hey, you listening?"  
  
Niou turned to Marui with a tired smile. "No."   
  
"I'm trying to have a conversation with you. You're the one who said I never tell you anything." The pop of Marui's gum echoed in the eerily quiet street.  
  
"I didn't mean for you to go on about useless crap. I meant real stuff, like when you're not going to be at practice because you've to go to the dentist. I worried my ass off yesterday."  
  
"Looks fine to me." Marui gave it a smack to illustrate. "And this  _is_  real stuff. I spent all of my allowance on that dinner."  
  
"Yeah, and now we're walking home because you can't pay for a bus," Niou grumbled.   
  
"Why didn't you just take the bus without me?"  
  
"Don't be stupid. I'm not gonna let you walk home at night when some pervy old man could mistake you for a girl and start feeling you up."  
  
As expected, Marui punched him. "I'm not a girl, asshole."  
  
"I didn't say you are a girl; I said you  _look_  like a girl."  
  
Marui stopped walking and cracked his knuckles. "When you get out of the hospital, tell Yagyuu I'm sorry for crippling his doubles partner."  
  
"Ooooh. Scary." Niou pulled Marui along the street by the arm. "Stop freaking out and just enjoy my company."  
  
"I'd enjoy it a lot more if you weren't too cheap to spot me 460 yen for the bus."  
  
It was Niou's turn to stop walking. "I would've spotted you 460 yen if I had 460 yen to spot you."  
  
"You get your allowance on Wednesdays. It's Thursday."  
  
Niou tugged at his rattail. "Look, just leave it, alright?"  
  
"What'd you spend it on? Porn? Paying off Yukimura so you can stay Doubles One?" Marui nudged Niou in the side with his elbow. "I won't tell."  
  
"I got tickets to the dumb food faire you wanted to go to." Niou stomped off and Marui ran to catch up.  
  
"Not porn?"  
  
"I'm never doing anything nice for you again. Now stop bitching."  
  
After looking around to make sure nobody was watching, Marui slipped his hand into Niou's. "You're pretty nice for a sneaky, no-good bastard."  
  
"Yeah, well…" Niou's comment trailed off as they came upon a woman carrying groceries in the opposite direction. They walked on in silence.


	26. Rise (Maruihara)

"That freaks me out. Stop it." Marui pushed Kirihara away.  
  
"It's cute," Kirihara protested. "It's a giant marshmallow."  
  
"It's a killer marshmallow that feeds off brains."   
  
"Senpai, it took me three hours to win something in the crane game for you. Just take it." He pushed the plushie toward Marui again. "It's a sign of my affection."  
  
Marui scooted away. "It's staring at me," he whispered. "It wants my brain."  
  
Kirihara put the Pillsbury Dough Boy aside. "He can't have your brain, senpai; that belongs to me." Hissing out a laugh through his teeth, Kirihara ran a hand down the side of Marui's body. "All of it belongs to me."  
  
Marui grabbed the Dough Boy and used it to swat away Kirihara's hand. "I'll take my chances with the killer marshmallow."


	27. Steeping (AtoJi, Tezufuji)

Atobe put up with many of Jirou's quirks. He put up with Jirou's insistence that Atobe keep a sleep mask on his person at all times (in case Jirou lost his), and he agreed to change his shampoo when Jirou disliked the smell of the old one. This, however, was going too far.  
  
"Pass the sugar?" Fuji Syuusuke asked.  
  
"Here you go." Jirou passed a container of sugar cubes.  
  
Atobe's one consolation was that Tezuka seemed to think this gathering was as twisted and wrong as he did.   
  
"This is just like episode twenty-eight," Fuji sighed, stirring his tea.   
  
"Only no aliens. Think we could get somebody to dress up like aliens?" Jirou looked around the campus. "What about that first year kid?"  
  
"Echizen?" Fuji's face scrunched up and he pushed his teacup away. "No."  
  
"Hey Atobe!"  
  
Breathing deeply, Atobe turned to Jirou. "Yes?"  
  
"Can you wear this?" Jirou produced a tin foil headband from under the table. "And pretend to attack us and take us back to your spaceship."  
  
Tezuka was watching Atobe over the rim of his teacup. If Atobe did this, he'd be a laughing stock for the remainder of his life.  
  
"You, too, Tezuka!" Fuji stood and put a headband on Tezuka.  
  
At least, Atobe thought, if he was going to be a laughing stock, he would have company.


	28. The Record (NiouMaru)

"I'm purely after his body," Niou told Jackal. "It's not about any of that emotional crap with us."   
  
Jackal pushed around a piece of meat on the grill. "Uh huh. Sure." He neither understood nor cared why Niou and Marui were together, he just needed to make some things clear as Marui's doubles partner. "Look, just go easy on him while we're getting ready for the pre-season matches. We're aiming for the summer invitational and we have to sweep the pre-season for an automatic spot."  
  
Niou stuffed a piece of garlic pork into his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "You know," he said with his mouth full, "he never told me about any of that stuff."  
  
"Why should he? You're just after his body, right?" Okay, so maybe Niou's attitude was a little upsetting. Maybe Jackal really wanted to punch the other boy in the face for taking advantage of his doubles partner.   
  
"Still, he should be telling me this stuff. Just because I like how he screams my name doesn't mean I wanna ruin his chances in the tournament." He chugged down his melon soda and rang the service bell. "Guess that means I'm flying solo for a few huh?" Niou slumped in the booth. "And I had some cool stuff to try next time."  
  
"That's it?" Jackal was surprised at how simple it had been. He thought Niou would have bitched a little more, put up some fight. "Guess you could always find someone else in the meantime, right?"  
  
Niou ordered another soda and, when the waitress was gone, leaned in over the barbeque pit. "If I tell you this, you better swear not to tell him."  
  
Oh boy. Here came the huge confession. "What?" Jackal asked. Under the table he set his phone to record and slipped it under the sleeve of his jacket.  
  
"He's kinda cute and stuff, so I'm thinking…you know."  
  
"No," said Jackal. "I don't know."  
  
Niou poked at a piece of char with the meat tongs. "Okay, so when you've done it a few times with a girl and you're used to it and stuff, it's normal to not want to do it with other girls, right?"  
  
Jackal thought about the past few weeks. "No."  
  
"Oh, uh, then maybe I should – "  
  
"What you're saying is that you like him, right?" Jackal had to hurry things along or the recording time would end and he'd have to reset it.  
  
Niou took his new soda from the waitress and started to stir the ice with his straw. "I'm not saying it's like that, I'm just saying that if anyone else touches him then I'll kill 'em."  
  
Jackal thought Niou sounded like an overprotective and bitchy girlfriend. Marui could do better. Too bad Jackal's doubles partner went for the rude, not-so-bright types. "Just tell him you like him already."  
  
"But I don't –"  
  
"He said he was getting bored and wanted to try a serious relationship. If you don't say something he'll dump you and go out with someone else. I can't afford to teach some new punk the rules before the tournament. Got it?"   
  
Niou swallowed down some of his soda and reloaded the grill with meat. "So, he really likes me, huh?"  
  
"I didn't say that. I said he's going to dump you." If Marui ever heard that Jackal told Niou about his secret, Jackal would need to find a new doubles partner - and possibly a doctor to mend his beaten in face. Marui fought with his nails and went for the eyes. "What're you doing?"  
  
Niou looked up from his phone. "I'm sending my buttercream princess an email."  
  
"Buttercream princess?"  
  
"Wanna hear the story?"  
  
Jackal did not.


	29. Great Deceit (Koharu/Yuuji)

He couldn't eat. How could he possibly eat when sitting beside him was a ticking time bomb of perversion?  
  
"This is wonderful fish," Koharu said, smiling at Yuuji's mother.  
  
"It's nothing special."  
  
"No, really, it's wonderful!"  
  
On and on it went, freaking Yuuji out. His parents wanted to meet his doubles partner so there was no way out of it. Surely, he thought, they would take one look at Koharu and withdraw their son from school and send him far, far away from his depraved doubles partner.  
  
So what the crap was this all about?  
  
"Yuuji didn't mention you were a top student," Yuuji's father said, taking more vegetables. "Maybe you can help him with his studies."  
  
"I'd be glad to." Koharu gave Yuuji a quick glance. "Hitouji-kun has really motivated me in tennis, so anything I can do to help him would be fine."  
  
Usually this was where Koharu would suggest they get naked and take photos to send to Chitose, mocking him for his celibacy while away from Tachibana.   
  
"You're such a delight, Konjiki-kun. Please come by any time." Yuuji's mother gave Koharu another piece of fish. "He never has friends over anymore. I used to bake a lot when he had friends sleep over."  
  
"Mom!"  
  
"The boys always used to steal his underwear and put it in the freezer, though."  
  
"MOM!"   
  
Maybe he could deal with Koharu because his parents were complete and utter idiots, too. The world was out to get him.  
  
"You can be sure his underwear would be safe with me, ma'm." Koharu smiled and continued eating. Yuuji excused himself to the bathroom.


	30. In the Beginning (Hyoutei)

He had envisioned he would take the position after scaling a mountain of bodies. He expected resistance and drama, something daring and suitable for the evening news. He heard that when Yukimura took over the Rikkai team there was a fistfight and police involved.  
  
"The keys to the courts are in the staff room, second row on the bulletin board. They're the ones with the tennis ball keychain." The previous captain clapped Atobe on the shoulder. "Win."  
  
Atobe shook off the hand. "Of course we'll win.  _I'm_  the captain, after all."   
  
There wasn't even anyone in the room to applaud Atobe's bold statements. Without an audience it really wasn't any fun at all.  
  
"Gotta study for my exams now. See ya."  
  
As soon as the other boy was out of the clubhouse, Atobe took out his cell phone. "Jirou, it's me. Does your cousin still perform with that kagura group?" He glared at the phone. "Don't ask why, just answer the question!" He began to pace. "Good, good. Have them come by this evening. I will supply the costumes and the filming crew. Tell them I'll pay them handsomely. Goodbye." Throwing his phone back in his bag, Atobe set to work rearranging bits of furniture.   
  
Lameass former captains might not make the news, but a bold and daring captain risking life and limb to protect one of his players, that was primetime.


	31. The Odds (NiouMaru)

Jackal met Yagyuu at entrance to the tennis courts. The two saluted eachother and made their way toward their designated practice court.   
  
"So," Jackal said, "who do you think'll start it today."  
  
Yagyuu took out a cloth and cleaned the lenses of his glasses. "Niou-kun scored poorly on an exam, so he'll likely take out his frustrations on Marui-kun."  
  
"Physical or verbal?"  
  
"Verbal, as always, with Marui-kun giving a physical response."  
  
"I dunno," Jackal said. "Marui didn't get a lot of sleep last night so he might not be up for a catfight. I bet he goes verbal on this one."  
  
Yagyuu put his glasses back on just as Marui and Niou entered the courts. Niou was carrying his and Marui's tennis bags over his shoulder while Marui carried their water bottles.  
  
"You know," Niou said, "you're really lucky to have a guy like me. Most guys wouldn’t put up with your bitching."  
  
Marui squeezed a water bottle, sending a spray at Niou.  
  
"Physical retaliation," Yagyuu pointed out.  
  
Jackal shook his head. "We already agreed that a non-wounding projectile doesn't count."  
  
"See, that's the kind of stuff I'm talking about," Niou said. "Guys don't deal with that kind of stuff from girls. Why the hell would they tolerate it from a bony-ass cake chomper?"  
  
"Hey everyone!" Marui waved his arms, signaling for everyone on the courts to gather round. "Niou and I are breaking up. Somebody wanna buy me some ramen after practice?"  
  
Hands flew into the air then quickly shot down when Niou dropped the tennis bags he was carrying and started to crack his knuckles. "Just try it," he told the assembled masses.   
  
"What," Marui snickered, "I thought you said you were tired of this  _bony-assed cake chomper_. I'm just setting you free of your burden."  
  
"The victory is yours today," Yagyuu told Jackal.   
  
"You were really close, though. You would've won if he'd thrown the water bottle."  
  
"Tomorrow," Yagyuu said.  
  
"Yeah. Definitely tomorrow."


	32. Intermission (InuKai)

  
"What're you doing?" Hazue poked Kaidou's shoulder.  
  
"Studying," Kaidou said, swatting his brother away. Kaidou was behind on the week's Japanese homework because Inui's latest energy drink experiment didn't agree with Kaidou's stomach. Now, Kaidou had to buckle down and get back on track.  
  
"Can't you do that by yourself?" Hazue leaned further over the back of the couch, casting a shadow over Kaidou's textbook.   
  
"Senpai is helping me."  
  
Hazue looked up to the chair Inui was curled up in, reading an English textbook. "Doesn't look like he's helping you much to me. Come on, I wanna play video games."  
  
Kaidou moved his textbook out of Hazue's shadow. "I'm busy."  
  
Inui cleared his throat and set down his book, marking his place with a piece of paper. "In twenty minutes we will be finished," he said. "Assuming we aren't interrupted."  
  
"I'll get the controllers ready." Hazue bounded out of the room.  
  
"Thanks, senpai."  
  
"You're welcome."


	33. Quiet Times (InuKai)

Stretched out across the floor of Kaidou's bedroom, Inui was hard pressed to find anything wrong with the world. Some forward thinking on his part guaranteed that he wouldn't be bogged down in assignments for the remainder of the term. His schoolwork was fairly simplistic and required little study on his part. With his homework completed, he was free to pursue his own academic and personal interests.  
  
While Inui stared at Kaidou's ceiling and contemplated the goodness of his life, Kaidou was sprawled across his bed, asleep. Practice had been unusually draining – Tezuka made the second years do extra laps and extra rallies – and even though Inui and Kaidou had been planning to get together to plan doubles strategy for weeks, Kaidou fell asleep the moment he sat down on his bed. Inui didn't mind the delay; it meant that Kaidou would invite Inui to stay the night, possibly two nights if things went well. There were too many variables for Inui to accurately predict how the events of the weekend would unfold, but he had, in the last half hour, managed to come up with three different plans. He also managed to deduce that Kaidou might be suffering from a deviated septum and that Kaidou's mattress was not providing sufficient lumbar support. Kaidou shifted in his sleep far too often. Inui was unsure if Kaidou would be upset if he mentioned the latter to Kaidou's mother.   
  
"Hey Kaoru! Mom wants to know if your friend's staying for dinner!" Hazue knocked on the door repeatedly. "Kaoru!"  
  
On the bed, Kaidou hissed. "Yes!" he shouted back.  
  
The door opened. "What you guys doing?" Hazue looked around the room, likely for any sign of misconduct or pornography. Not finding what he was looking for, he frowned. "Boring," he grumbled.  
  
"Get out," Kaoru said, laying back on the bed.  
  
"Why?" Hazue entered the room and closed the door. "Something you don't want me to tell Mom about?" The grin that spread across Hazue's face was vaguely reminiscent to Momoshiro's expression when he was about to devour hamburgers. Inui made a mental note to write the comparison down in his notebook later; it might explain why Kaidou remained so antagonistic toward Momoshiro even though the two second years had, in so far as data could conclude, become friends.   
  
"Kaidou is suffering from temporary exhaustion due to overexertion during practice," Inui explained.  
  
"Why can't you have normal friends?" Hazue asked his brother.   
  
"He said I'm tired so get out," Kaoru said. If Hazue continued to provoke his brother, it was likely there would be a small brawl and the likelihood of Kaidou's mother allowing Inui to stay over would be reduced by as much as fifty percent.  
  
Inui rose from his place on the floor and walked toward Hazue. "Please tell your mother I would be honored to stay for dinner. Perhaps I can help you with your homework later."  
  
Hazue's eyes narrowed. There was a ninety-eight percent chance he thought Inui's offer to be some sort of trap, but Inui was one hundred percent certain that Hazue's desire to meet or exceed the standard Kaoru set would override any misgivings the young boy had.  
  
"Fine," Hazue said, backing up toward the door. "Just don't talk weird anymore."  
  
Kaidou grunted with the effort of sitting up. "Leave." He pointed to the door.  
  
Hazue left, slamming the door and stomping down the hall, eliciting admonishment from his mother.   
  
"Lock the door, senpai. He'll be back." Kaidou was already yawning.  
  
Inui did as instructed though he knew Hazue wouldn't return until he called them to dinner. "Go ahead and rest, Kaidou. I'll browse through the books we borrowed from the library and prepare a summary for you."  
  
If Inui were to tell anyone that Kaidou Kaoru's smile was the brightest in the world, he would be laughed at. He was content to keep that knowledge to himself, though, and merely smiled back at Kaidou's rare show of gratitude. A few moments later, Kaidou was asleep again and Inui, having already read the formation texts earlier in the week, resumed his musing while staring at Kaidou's ceiling.


	34. Box Cat (OsaGin)

Osamu was aware that, for once, he wasn't doing anything wrong. Gin was 20, they were living in their own home, and Gin's parents supported the relationship…in their own way.  
  
"How was work today?" Gin asked, his words chopped between nips at Osamu's sweaty neck.  
  
Everyone was okay with this; the law, the…in-laws (oh god, that was so fucked up), and certainly Gin. Osamu seemed to be the only one who had any misgivings about a young college boy coming home from class, throwing his books down, grabbing his much older boyf…housema…grabbing someone much older, throwing him down onto the new and scratchy living room rug, and attempting to remove any fabric obstacles with his teeth.  
  
"Osamu? Talk to me." Judging from the movements of Gin's hands, the bo…no, the ma…he was trying to push Osamu's response out through his nipples, twisting and rubbing it upward toward Osamu's stubbly throat.  
  
"Day was fine." The day, in actuality, was a hot mess. Three of the students in Osamu's homeroom class got in trouble for failing to turn in their science and social studies homework all week. Per the rules of the fancy schmancy school Osamu now worked for (public school teacher wasn't good enough for the in-laws so they kindly found Osamu alternate employment), anyone who failed to complete the week's homework had to stay after school to complete supplementary work as compensation. This supplementary work was overseen by the homeroom teacher. Osamu hated Fridays the most.  
  
"You're tense."  
  
"Ya think?" The tension was twenty percent work, fifty percent libido, and thirty percent trained apprehension.   
  
Gin's hands slid away and he moved aside, allowing Osamu room to sit up. "We can wait 'til you're ready."   
  
Osamu's head rolled to the side. The rug was damn uncomfortable. Chances were, if he wasn't ready after all of that, he was never going to be ready. His psychological chastity belt, held firmly in place for six years, was never going to come off unless forcibly removed. Gin was too nice a ki…guy to do it, though. The thought of it made Osamu shiver, nonetheless.  
  
His mouth was dry, his back hurt, and the idea of letting himself painfully deflate for the night – again – was unbearable. A whine, almost a mewl, slipped through his nose.   
  
He shifted, mortified for sounding like some kind of back alley box cat. "What's for dinner?" he managed, though his speech was still breathy, his body not yet back to solid functionality.  
  
Gin smiled, stepped closer, traced the inside of Osamu's leg with his toe. "I didn't have anything in mind. Are you hungry?" The foot continued its light tracing while Gin stood, arms over his chest, eyes leaving Osamu's only in small spurts of what Osamu hoped was embarrassment.  
  
Osamu opened his mouth to say that the portions for school lunch that day were ridiculously small and he was starving, but his lungs caught in the moment between inhaling and exhaling. A pulse shot up from his tailbone, rode his spine, and branched into his shoulders, pooling lava hot in his fingertips. "Mhm," he managed through a long exhalation.   
  
The toe continued to move. "What do you want?"  
  
Contact. Osamu's eyelids pushed tight against one another, the muscular strain pushing his eyes back in their sockets, giving him a small headache between his eyebrows.  
  
"We could do curry."  
  
Again. Osamu's shoulders rolled, chafing against the rug he was going to throw out as soon as he had the ability to stand.   
  
"We've got stuff for pasta, too."  
  
Touch. Slide. Roll. The cat noise changed to a pained cow. He felt himself breathing through his nose and mouth simultaneously, exhalations in time with the bowing of his spine.   
  
Gin returned to the floor. "You must be real hungry," he whispered, leaning down and over to scrape his teeth across the scraggled hairs on the tip of Osamu's chin. "Sorry to keep you waiting."


	35. Sobriety (Maruihara, Sanayuki)

"Come get him," Akaya snarled into his phone before turning it off, not waiting for Sanada to reply on the other end. Bunta needed new friends, and he needed them yesterday. They'd already been over the No Alcohol When Yukimura Visits rule, and Bunta had broken that rule three times in the last month. That was three times in the last month that Akaya had come home from class to find Bunta and Yukimura sprawled across the floor, twined around one another like a human slipknot. 

The front door opened and Sanada walked in. After kicking off his shoes, he came to stand next to Akaya. "They're wearing clothes this time," he said, as if that would somehow make Akaya want to kill Yukimura less. "Maybe we should let them sleep. They worked hard on their term project."

Working hard on a school assignment didn't mean Yukimura could have his hand on Bunta's ass, nor did it mean Bunta was allowed to have his leg locked around Yukimura's thigh. Akaya knew there wasn't anything treacherous going on—the two idiots on the floor were just good friends who both got a little too snuggly when inebriated—but that didn't mean it was excusable.

"You can take him home or I can drag him out by his hair. Your choice." Yukimura and Sanada were in the apartment directly below them. Maybe smacking Yukimura's skull against the stairwell would help calm Akaya's temper.

Sanada sighed and started untangling limbs. When he was done, he hefted Yukimura onto his shoulder.

"I want a Pomeranian, Genichirou." Yukimura's hands started grabbing at Sanada's chest. "A cute gold one."

"That's fine," Sanada said. "We'll talk about it at home." He slid his shoes on and left, Yukimura still fondling his pectorals.

On the floor, Marui continued to sleep, a small bit of drool leaking out of his mouth. Akaya sat on the floor and pulled the idiot's head into his lap. When Bunta woke up, they were going to have a very long talk. Again. Akaya was fairly certain it would have the same effect as the last talk, but perhaps the fourth time was a charm.


End file.
